Sleeping with the Bean

While I was on maternity leave, one of the best parts of my day were the early morning hours, when I would put Sam in our bed. She would wake up for a bottle around 4 am, and after I fed her, I would usually put her in bed right next to me (yes, I know this COULD breed bad habits, but it didn't). We would snuggle next to each other, and sleep. Then, when she would wake up, we would sing songs, and sometimes, doze back off for a bit. I can't imagine anything better. Her bottle time gradually got later -- 4 am turned into 4:30 which turned into 5 and then 5:30 then . . . she slept all night. The first time she slept until 7 am, without waking up, I was sad, because I knew those early morning snuggle sessions were likely to be a thing of the past. The bean was growing up.

But, we still took ALL of her naps together. In fact, Sam never took a nap in her crib until her first day at daycare. Many of you will remember that I kept saying I was going to work on naps in the crib, but then, I didn't . . . I kept putting it off. Part of me thought "it's my maternity leave, and she's only this little for a short period . . . If I want to hold her while she sleeps, I will." So, I did. Lots and lots and lots of naps in mommy's arms (and daddy's on the weekends!).

The first day I took her to daycare, I was so worried, I knew she'd have to nap in a crib there, and I was worried that I'd done her a disservice by holding her too much. But, we only left her there for a few hours that first day and when we arrived to pick her up, there she was . . . sound asleep in her crib! Such a good girl.

I still love sleeping with her next to me. There's something so comforting and peaceful about it. On the weekends now, I LOVE napping with her. Sometimes even on work days, if I don't have to be in at a certain time, I'll steal a quick snooze with her before I take her to daycare -- she likes a nap about an hour after she wakes up -- just a quick cat nap. And, in the evenings, around 6, another cat nap. I usually hold her for that one too, and doze off myself. Often, its the power nap I need to be able to do work after she goes to sleep.

When I watch her sleep (and hold her while she's sleeping), she's the most beautiful thing in the world to me :o)

In other updates, Thursday is our first PT appointment -- I'll write an update that night. I still go back and forth between total optimism and worrying myself crazy, but thankfully, I have enough supportive friends/family in my life that I'm staying fairly sane. And, thankfully, my husband never seems to get sick of reassuring me -- he lets me worry enough for both of us! He's clearly the most sane b/t the two of us!!!